It is well known in the field of welding to adjust the parameters of a welding sequence to achieve a desired result. This may include setting the welding power supply at a specific voltage or current or at a particular frequency. For some weldments, it may be desirable to achieve deep penetration of the weld joint, whereas in another application power supply settings for deep penetration may damage or destroy the adjoined materials. Accordingly, the operator may adjust one or more welding parameters to match the material and joint configuration for a particular application.
Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) is one well known type of welding process, known also as Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welding. Gas-Metal-Arc-Welding (GMAW) is another well known welding process. Stick welding is yet another type of welding. Each welding process utilizes an electrode through which power is supplied from a welding power supply to establish the welding arc. Examples of welding power supplies include phase controlled, pulse width modulated and inverter power supplies. In certain welding processes, the electrode is consumed, as in the case of GMAW or Stick welding. By way of contrast, the electrode for the TIG welding process is non-consumable. In each type of welding, the welding power supply parameters are set to control the weld cycle.
Fundamentally, welding machines in general use at least two parameters to control the welding process. These include: electrode feed rate and/or current and voltage. Some GMAW welding machines also have an inductance control that affects the response of the power source or supply. Other welding parameters may include AC balance where the duty cycle of positive voltage is greater than that of the negative voltage by a particular percentage resulting in shallower arc penetration. The converse may also be true for deeper penetration. Other aspects of the welding process including arc width, or the kind of arc produced by the welding power supply, are also affected by adjusting the welding sequence or welding profile. Proper control requires that the operating parameters be set to their optimal settings for a particular application (e.g. gas mixture used, plate thickness and joint type). Prior art welding machines have required the operator to calculate setup parameters from tables or equations. Alternatively, the settings may be set based on welder experience, or by trial and error.
If the welding operator provides erroneous data, or improperly calculates the setup parameters, poor weld quality or inefficient use of the welding machine and consumables may result. Weld quality is therefore dependent upon proper setup of the welding parameters. Additionally, weld quality may be determinative of the processes that correspond with the type of components connected to the welding power supply. Traditionally, various preloaded processes are presented to an end-user via a user interface, regardless of which physical component may be connected to the welding power supply. Rather than limit the type of processes a user may utilize, systems will display the process, but limit the range those processes might have based on the connected physical component. Such a configuration may lead the end-user to select a process that is not compatible or which may not function properly if the incorrect component is installed. The selection of an incompatible process may also lead to poor weld quality.
It is therefore desirable to have a method and apparatus that helps the operator understand how changes in the welding profile will affect the welding process. Visual representations are extremely useful for this purpose; however, a graphical display dynamically showing the processes that correspond with the connected components would assist the operator in producing a higher quality and more consistent product. The embodiments of the present invention obviate the aforementioned problems, and provide a means for more producing a higher quality and more consistent product.